This invention relates to dynamoelectric generators, and in particular, to a coil removal apparatus for a dynamoelectric generator. The field rewinding of hydrogenerators, in particular, requires removal of the old coils and replacement with new coils. The old coils are often very difficult to remove from the stator core slots. Typically, an overhead crane and pulley arrangement are used to extract these coils from the stator core. The pulley changes the direction of the pull of the crane from vertical to horizontal and is mounted near the center of the core for radial pull direction. In the past a sling has been used for the coil pulling operation. Each end of the sling is attached to one leg of the coil and the sling is pulled at the center with a crane cable. This arrangement has the tendency to draw the two legs of the coil together rather than directly out of the slot resulting in binding of the coil in the slots, making it even more difficult to extract.